Ian in Clyde, North Carolina, is puzzled when a colleague uses the term blue million, meaning “a large amount.” Along with words like zillion and gazillion, this expression functions as an indefinite hyperbolic numeral. Sometimes the word blue...
Why do we describe someone or something very special as all that and a bag of chips? It’s an intensifier of the expression all that and appears to have been popularized by a 1991 newspaper story about new slang, playing off the earlier “all that.”...
Theresa in Lyman, South Carolina, says her mother has long used the word quare to describe someone who is “odd” or “set in their ways” or otherwise “peculiar,” as in They’re the quarest people I’ve ever met. The term quare, also spelled quar...
The intensifier pure-d or puredee is a euphemism for pure damned or pure damn. It’s also sometimes rendered as pure-t, and used most often in the Southern United States and South Midlands. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Pure D...
Colin in West Hartford, Connecticut, says his teenagers admiringly use the word dirty to describe a great athlete, and use filthy to describe one who’s especially talented. Although this positive usage of originally negative words may sound new...
Dreyer’s English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style is a highly opinionated, helpful resource for anyone who wants to become a better writer. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “A Highly Opinionated Guide to Better...